For the first time ever the annual Beat the Street Gala will take place at Pier 17/Seaport District in lower Manhattan. 

But just like any other year, there is a star-studded lineup set to grace the stage this Thursday. The men’s freestyle team will tussle with the Cuban national team, while three of the United States' best women will be featured in bouts against some of Nigeria, led by two-time world medalist Odunayo Adekuoroye, who will face three-time world and Olympic Champ Helen Maroulis. 

In a special high school bout, we will get another installment of the rivalry between Penn State-bound Gavin Teasdale from Pennsylvania and New Jersey’s Pat Glory, who is heading to Princeton.

Along with Maroulis vs Adekuoroye, this year’s other headliners will feature USA’s Jordan Oliver and five-time world and Olympic champ Jordan Burroughs against Togrul Asgarov (AZE) and two-time world champ Frank Chamizo (ITA), respectively. 

Also, multiple-time world and Olympic champ  Kyle Snyder will be in action, taking on Cuba’s Reineris Salas Perez, a two-time world silver medalist.

WATCH BEAT THE STREETS LIVE!

Patrick Glory (NJ) vs. Gavin Teasdale (PA)

Credentials:

Pat Glory: Two-time NJ state champ; Princeton commit

Gavin Teasdale: Four-time PA state champ; Penn State commit

The rivalry is certainly slanted in Teasdale's favor, but it’s inches away from leaning towards Glory. We’ve seen them wrestle plenty and the adjustments that they’ve made are evident each time. We know that the Teasdale low ankle shot is coming followed by Glory’s scrambling and leg passing. 

But like I said, the adjustments are evident and when they met at the Pittsburgh Wrestling Classic we saw the slight improvements Teasdale made to get the win. Glory will have to find a way to slow down Teasdale’s volume shooting and get his offense going or it could be a similar ending.

Watch Teasdale edge Glory at PWC:

USA vs. Nigeria (Women's Freestyle)

57kg: Helen Maroulis (USA) vs. Odunayo Adekuoroye (Nigeria)

Credentials:

Helen Maroulis: 2015, 2017 world champ; 2016 Olympic champ

Odunayo Adekuoroye: 2015 world bronze medalist; 2017 world silver medalist

Adekuoroye is very long and lanky and she uses that to her advantage very well. Both offensively and defensively you’ll see her use her length. Offensively she works from space and fires off a double that for most would seem like she’s too far away. But she converts this into points a lot of the time because she gathers her base very quickly, gets to her feet and finishes high for a takedown. She’s able to finish high because of being so much taller than just about every one of her opponents that her height gives her so much leverage to finish. Naturally, if she doesn’t get the takedown she at least gets one-point for the step out. 

Defensively she’s strong and comfortable when her opponents shoot low. Sitting back on a closed whizzer with her other leg stretched way too far out for anyone to reach is all it takes for her to combat most of the shots taken on her. 

Helen is one of the most technically sound wrestlers in the world. Coupled with the high wrestling IQ and technique is an active pace, not a high pace. She’s not the type to fire off shot, after shot, after shot, but she does make her opponents feel like she’s attacking from every angle possible and she wastes no time in any position whether she takes a good shot and is running the corner to score, or take a bad shot and needs to get back to her feet and clear out. 

Where Adekuoroye looks to slow most of her opponents down-the closed whizzer position-Maroulis wastes no time. When she goes with a head inside single, just one of her many attacks, she’s running her feet and trying to limp arm out before you can anchor down. It’s those split second transitions and chain wrestling that make her so tough to beat and keep up with. Adekuoroye also has some gas tank issues that Maroulis will certainly take advantage of just based off of how she wrestles.

Watch Maroulis at last year's BTS in Times Square:

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59kg: Alli Ragan (USA) vs. Adeniyi Aminat (Nigeria)

Credentials:

Alli Ragan: Two-time world silver medalist

Adeniyi Aminat: African Championships silver medalist

Aminat and Ragan fit together. What I mean is that while Aminat is more of a dictator by stalking and holding center, Ragan is fine to let things come to her and seize the point-scoring opportunity. Certainly, Ragan has the ability to come forward and go after the points instead of allowing her opponent to make the mistakes for her to capitalize on, but she has more of a circling and opportunistic style.

Aminat does not fire off a lot of shots. In fact, she isn’t highly offensive at all despite coming forward constantly and trying to control the ties and center of the mat. She has a cling-and-climb technique on her shots where she gets in and hangs out on the leg(s) to force a crackdown position. But her tactics could play right into Ragan’s style. Of the two, Alli is more offensive and has great head placement on her low singles and can change directions on her finishes very well.

With two styles such as these, it could very well make for an action-packed bout. 

P.S. Ragan has a great go-behind as well. Her hand placement makes it tough to defend.

68kg: Tamyra Stock (USA) vs. Blessing Oborududu (Nigeria)

Credentials:

Tamyra Stock: Two-time Yarygin champ

Blessing Oborududu: Eight-time African Championships champ

If I had to explain Tamyra Stock’s style in one word it would have to be deliberate. When it comes to everything she does there is not a good chance that there will any wasted movement. On her leg attacks, she commits and wastes no time finishing. When she gets to the leg she automatically starts cutting the corner and running her feet before her opponent can start to fight it off. 

Against Oborududu this will bode well because Oborududu is more of a defensive wrestler who hand fights very well. Stock’s defense is solid but it may not really be much of a factor since Oborududu would rather control ties, hold ground and stalk to open up a scoring opportunity off of Stock’s shots.

USA vs. Cuba (Men's Freestyle)

57kg: Josh Rodriguez (USA) vs. Reineri Andreu Ortega (Cuba)

Credentials: 

Josh Rodriguez: Jr. Greco and Freestyle Pan Am champ (2014)

Reineri Andreu Ortega: 2017 57kg U23 champ

This is going to be a tall order for Rodriguez. Ortega is coming off a gold medal-winning performance at the Pan American Championships where he defeated world silver medalist Thomas Gilman in the semis. 

Ortega is patient on his feet. The two takedowns that he scored on Gilman came after hand fighting and timing Gilman’s feet. To combat Ortega’s attacks, Rodriguez will have to make the most of his distance and make sure not to get into a rhythm. And also protect his left leg. Whether it’s head outside or head inside, it’s Ortega’s go-to side of attack. 

Rodriguez had some trouble finishing his shots against Tony Ramos at the U.S. Open. He was able to get to the legs, but couldn’t find a way to complete the job. Hopefully, he’s made the adjustments.

70kg: James Green (USA) vs. Franklin Maren Castillo (Cuba)

Credentials:

James Green: 2015 world bronze medalist; 2017 world silver medalist

Franklin Maren Castillo: Three-time Cerro Pelado champ; 2017 Pan Am champ

We are very familiar with James Green’s explosive style. Every single one of his takedowns has a big point possibility attached to it. Green is about that action, Castillo is a bit different. He will happily sit back, hold center, and hand fight. But when he pulls the trigger on an attack he will absolutely disappear and try to go big. 

Also, when it comes to his ties, it looks to be more of a defensive tactic; however, it works to actually set up scoring opportunities for him because most of his opponents get lulled to sleep by it. 

79kg: Kyle Dake (USA) vs. Livan Lopez Azcuy (Cuba)

Credentials: 

Kyle Dake: 2018 Yarygin silver medalist; four-time NCAA champ

Livan Lopez Azcuy: 2011, 2014 world bronze medalist; 2013 world silver medalist

Kyle Dake will take on a very tough to score on Livan Lopez Azcuy. This will be Lopez Azcuy’s second appearance at Beat The Streets. Last time he was at the event he was dominated by David Taylor 18-7. But that was three years ago in 2015. 

Recently, Lopez Azcuy won a Pan American title over Nazar Kulchytskyy in a match in which he didn’t take one shot. This could be a tough test for Dake but only because Azcuy wrestles a very limited style. He’s not the type to open up or fire off a lot of attacks at all. Hitting a knee isn’t really his thing. He will pull the triggers on a snatch single or an arm drag to a go behind.

As we’ve seen with Dake, he can basically score when he wants to. When he decides to go it’s usually high velocity. In this match, he’s going to have to open up but fully commit on his attacks because Azcuy’s defensive style is always looking for a go behind. 

92kg: J’den Cox (USA) vs. Yurieski Torreblanca Queralta (Cuba)

Credentials:

J’den Cox: 2016 Olympic bronze medalist; 2017 world bronze medalist

Yurieski Torreblanca Queralta: 2017 Pan Am champ; 2018 Pan Am silver medalist

This could be one of the most electric matches on the card outside of the super matches. Torreblanca might be one of the most offensive wrestlers on the Cuban team. However, like Azcuy, hitting a knee on his shots isn’t something he’s interested in. But he sets up his attacks with very active hands waiting for you to react and jumping to the side left open. He gets into the open space very quickly off his ties. 

In a way, he and Cox have similar styles. When they decide to go it’s an explosive attack that gets up and through their opponent in a hurry. The edge that I believe Cox has, besides his ability to scramble like no one else in the world, is how he doesn’t have a timeable pattern. That’s going to make it tough on Torreblanca, who seems to thrive off of being able to get into a rhythm and string scoring opportunities together.

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97kg: Kyle Snyder (USA) vs. Reineris Salas Perez (Cuba)

Credentials: 

Kyle Snyder: 2015, 2017 world champ; 2016 Olympic champ

Reineris Salas Perez: 2013, 2014 world silver medalist

When Salas works from space he has the ability to be deceptive. For such a large human he has very quick feet and moves really well. Against Kyven Gadson in the Pan Am finals, he was able to work from space which made him a lot more explosive. It was almost as if he had a running start. Even more impressive is his defense. He has very heavy hips and great reaction time. Even Sadulaev wasn’t able to take him down when they met in the opening round of the World Championships last year despite being in deep on a double.

However, where he has trouble defending is where we see Snyder attack the best. Snyder’s low single attack off the tie is almost tailor-made for an opponent such as Salas who has shown to have problems manufacturing offense off the tie. This is a strength of Snyder’s and it will also expose Salas who tends to stand up straight out of ties and snaps. 

125kg: Nick Gwiazdowski (USA) vs. Yudenny Alapajon Estevez (Cuba)

Credentials:

Nick Gwiazdowski: 2017 world bronze medalist; 2018 Pan Am champ

Yudenny Alapajon Estevez: 2018 Pan Am silver medalist

This is a rematch from the Pan Am finals a month ago. Gwiz was able to dictate the match with his ties and did a great job cutting the corner on his leg attacks. A steady diet of head inside singles and running his feet took Gwiz to the top of the podium.

Estevez is one of those pushing, no offense type of guys that is good at holding center off the over-under situation looking for push-outs. Unlucky for him, Gwiz likes to attack and can move his feet.

Watch Gwiz take out Estevez in the Pan Am finals:

65kg: Jordan Oliver (USA) vs. Togrul Asgarov (AZE) 

Credentials:

Jordan Oliver: Two-time NCAA champ

Togrul Asgarov - 2016 Olympic silver medalist; 2012 Olympic champ

Similar stories and pretty similar styles with slight variations to both. The nuts and bolts of this their stories are that they are both fresh off of suspensions for testing positive for banned substances. When it comes to their styles, it’s safe to say that they both have dynamic offensive attacks and can score in multiple ways. 

The one they’ve made famous is the slide-by. While JO goes with the “Easton Shrug,” Asgarov goes more with an elbow control variation. Both highly effective. I look for this one to be high scoring because both of them have been out of competition for a long time and are naturally champing at the bit to get back to scrappin’.

74kg: Jordan Burroughs (USA) vs. Frank Chamizo (ITA)

Credentials:

Jordan Burroughs: Four-time world champ; 2012 Olympic champion

Frank Chamizo: 2015, 2017 world champ; 2016 Olympic bronze medalist

They might be the two most polarizing stars in wrestling. With styles that are pretty diametrically opposed yet fueled by explosive athleticism, this match will not disappoint one bit. Chamizo is a two-time world champion and will be making his second straight appearance at BTS. He won an action-packed bout against Jordan Oliver at last year's event and will be looking to back up his social media trash talk with a win over Burroughs. 

Since claiming his second world title at 70kg over James Green last year, Chamizo has moved up from 70kg to Burroughs' weight class of 74kg. So far it’s been a pretty successful move as he’s won a pair of titles at the Ukrainian Memorial International in Ukraine and the Nikola Petrov Tournament in Bulgaria. Most recently he was third at the European Championship. The Italian wrestler is known for his unorthodox style and crafty tactics. 

But will those tactics be able to stop Burroughs who has been performing at an all-time high level? While Chamizo has a stingy defensive backing, it’s going to be fully put to the test against Burroughs’ signature blast double, which is now accompanied by a leg-lace finish to make it just that much more deadly.